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Sky Sport journalist says Coutinho to Barca deal is not near

Sky Sport journalist says Coutinho to Barca deal is not near

Sky Sports and Spanish football expert journalist Guillem Balague believes that the switch of Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona is not nearly as close as people think, according to Sky Sports.

Balague said: "This is exactly what Segura said: 'We are negotiating the details for Coutinho and Dembele. We are close, that is obvious, but until everything gets fully confirmed, you cannot say anything else.'

"Reading between the lines, he is trying to say - and I have spoken to all the relevant sources - that Barca want both players and they are in talks with their representatives. Not more than that. Even though if you take a sentence from it out of context it sounds different.

"It means they still need to do deals with the clubs and that will not be easy, in fact, it is far from being a close deal if you analyse the situation right now.

"Borussia has said that Barcelona have not got any close to their price tag for Dembele, €150m (£136m), and there is no price for Coutinho. That's where the situation is at the moment.

Follow: @Jac_talbot